Hey, John B, I'm going to point out that the Samsung Galaxy Captivate had an amazing metal chassis. You pulled down the bottom clip to take the back panel off and refasten it securely by pushing it up. It was not a cheap phone by any means. What Samsung should do, since they said they want to go back to the basics is somehow integrate that Captivate chassis for the so-called S5 Supreme. Now THAT would be a 5 star phone.

I totally agree. I have always claimed that if a manufacturer can design a phone like today's smartphones with metal yet keep accessibilty of crucial components, I would be first in line to purchase it. The list is growing larger of people that would do the same.

I was placed an argument that a $600+ phone should not feel cheap. I countered by claiming a 600+ phone should also be able to augment with needs such as upgrading memory and not be rendered useless by something as simple as a failed battery. That should be left for cheaper phones. Not the other way around.

What ever happened to functionality? I've never had a problem with plastic in the 27 years of owning cellphones. Chances are you cover your phone with a case anyway. And if you don't, your buying time with damage from drops or other things. I'm too old to fall for metal gimmicks. It's a money grab by manufacturers that count on consumers to fall for it.

If you don't like Samung products, there are other choices. But to dismiss plastic as viable material for phones, you've fallen prey to marketing fluff.

I'm not going to dismiss plastic as a viable material for phones. Personally I like the metal body better. But like someone mentioned in another post if they could remake the Samsung Captivate that would be a win.

I have the HTC ONE and it has been such a fantastic phone.I don't need a fragile SD card and I don't care about a removable battery. My battery works great. I still have an iPhone 3GS that has a great battery. Just because you don't like built in batteries doesn't mean its superior. We should have choices. my choice is a metal body without a removable battery or expandable storage. Now if my HTC ONE only had 16GB. Then I would be singing a different tune.

Choice is what I'm all about. Unfortunately, the more techies that keep pushing for and saying they have no issues, represents a small percentage of mainstream users. This is causing less choice for us due to tech sites constantly questioning and prodding manufacturers for metal. We should have both. Not one choice.

Fortunately, at this point, Samsung has recognized the importance of this.

My friend had an HTC one and loved it until he had a problem with it. The battery failed and he had to take into the service center. He was issued a refurbished unit that has given him minor problems. He has not been happy because nothing was wrong with his original to begin with. Hejust wanted a new battery.

You do realize that about the iPhone accounts for %50 percent of the smartphone sold in the US. And those people aren't complaining about their batteries. The companies are listening to the average user. And the average user has a non removable battery.

I beg to differ with you. Several of my constituents have already ditched their iphones for Samsungs. And a growing number of people from all over(including myself) have filed petitions to our local governments to investigate the anti-consumer practice of sealing in batteries.

50% percent of the US market only represents about 10% of world wide market. This is where the rubber meets the pavement. Apple scoring only 14% of the world marketshare is not average use. The industry is trying to force sealed batteries onto the consumer.

I've placed this argument in front of everyone before. The industry stands to make huge dollars off of consumers that have no choice but to bring their devices into a service center for repair. If a device'...(continues)

The only way your going to be charged a deductible is if its outside of the 1 year waranty or if they damaged the phone.

You would still have the option for a repair people do it all the time but your either going to send your phone into the manufactuer and be without a phone for a little bit or truest some repair shop in your area and hopefully dont make it worse, either way just like a computer or even a car, once its outside that warranty and it has a problem your paying for it, no way around it

For a battery or upgrading memory? What kind of tech geeks do we have on these sites that can't or wont to do their own repairs for such things? My 5 year old grandson can change his own battery.

The out of warranty scenerio is even more an argument for such nonsense. I can go to online stores and purchase a replacement battery far less cheaper than having my phone brought in, looked at and replaced or sent out for repair. Why should I be rendered without a $600+ phone because of a battery?

upgrading memory would have nothing to do with it. but i meant as far as replacing the phone if its one that doesnthave a removable battery your not changing anything that being why i mentioned sending it out.

and its not usually the battery not everything is tied to he battery and not that easy of a fix. but lets take that deductible away say you can exchange that abttery since you think thats the issue, still not working would you want to pay another $600+ to get a new device, since that ones completely done, to get a woking phone or would you rather pay that deductible

You're fluffing the point. If I try a new battery and it doesnt fix the problem, then we have an issue that needs attending to. But, wasting time, gas(which costs money) and possible cancellation of other things to remain in constant communication with business deals, is unacceptable if it ends up just being a failed battery. I could have replaced it on the go and no time or money is lost.

Save your breath, John. He's lost. He's now where the industry wants him to be. You're making good points and he keeps turning around, bringing a statement that supports the inustry desire's. I, like you, wonder what happened to all those techies that were into resolving their phone issues themselves instead of spending time, gas and cash on someone else doing it.

Wolf, because their not techies they are people who know just enough to get in trouble and know a little more than the average joe to make them seem like a techie. But have no clue how to fix their own device. I personally prefer to fix my own stuff simply because it's cheaper and I know it was done right.

either way if your fixing it yourself or having someone else fix it its gonna take time, gas, and cash.im just pointing out he mentioned several times now he has some type of support center where hes at so depending on who his service is with to get the phone replaced if he needs to or get replaced whatever needs replaced saming that time and possibly cash

depending on teh issue it can but if its a battery issue you still have to look for who has the battery if a store has it drive out there and buy it. if a store doesnt happen to have it you have to order it, which is even longer

Some people have a backup battery, this without waiting for the first one to happen, this allow you to fully drain a battery and then place a fully charged one in withouth having to wait for the 1st one to be charged, it also eliminaes the need of staying connected to the charger while using it in order to have "juice". This cannot be achieved with a sealed-in battery.

but thats a small amount of people though is my point, if its not needed a lot of people dont have it.if anything theyll have a battery pack, but still not too people have them plus most are really slow to charge

Have you noticed that charging cables are getting shorter and shorter?

Two things have purposed this move.

1) It's cheaper to make a short cable which can save tons of money when all added up.

2) There's also a technical reason. More and more people interact much more with their smartphones on a daily basis. Often gaming, streaming, surfing the net and downloading. Any of this sound familiar? Good. Because what I'm about to tell you is very important. Constant charging and discharging very bad for the battery. It is recommended that the battery not be discharged fully but never to be connected during high use. It charges and discharges very rapidly during this ti...(continues)

thats online you have to order and wait for it to get there, again most people dont have an extra battery just getting there due to not needing it.paying atleast 40 for a battery at any actual store your going to drive to

I'm quite aware of the exchange proceedure. No. I dont expect a new device when exchanged. However, if there was nothing wrong with my original phone to begin with except for the battery, I wish not to receive a device that may have been someone else's problem child. I also don't expect to receive a refurbished unit that may have only had the battery replaced. It's an extreme inconvenience that I could've done myself.

Come on people. What has happened to the legitimate tech enthusiasts here? Aesthetics seems to have consumed and removed all common sense from the very people that should have the most skill in replacing common components. I'm embarrassed that my 5 year old grandson can do what most of everyone here is trying to eliminate.

ok but thats the same exact thing if that phone your getting was a repaired one, which its not in all cases, if the battery was the issue, the only issue, if it was replaced whats the big deal? your getting your defective phone replaced with one thats working, free of charge unless you damage the phone or outside of that 1 year

like i mentioned i like having a removable battery and having extra memory but if the phone i choose to want doesnt have it i have to be ok with the fact it has to be replaced if it has an issue with the battery that phones needs replaced

like others have mentioned some people want that feature without a removable battery and some dont, obviously those who do not want it will not get that phone as easy is that

No. It's not as easy as that. The industry is slowly delegating the mid to high end phones to be unaccessible. That eliminates choice for those that want the choice. Your viewing it. You can't deny it. Only low end phones are retaining the practice. My wife and I and our large group of constituents have vowed to remove ourselves from purchasing phones where we can't change our own batteries. Over the course of 20 some years that we have all owned cell phones, batteries have been the most replaced failed component. We've been groomed to associate what may be causing issues with devices by failed batteries. Many symptoms of a failed or failing battery is not just lack of holding charge or complete death. With todays smartphones, 40% of flick...(continues)

I completely agree with you, although I still have bought phones with sealed batteries (my choice and I understand the consequences). I have grown tired of seal batteries and no SD card, but I don't like Samsung phones (again my choice) and so I have almost no choice in removable batteries which is not not a good thing, I do believe if other manufacturers had kept removable batteries and allowed SD cards Samsung would not have amassed the following it has.

I feel your pain brother. Many that have tried sealed battery phones are starting to witness those consequences as well. Many don't have issues. However, the lnes that do and only find it was a battery issue, are saying WTF? It doesn't make sense in the eyes of mainstream consumers and they are questioning the motive. Most of us on these tech sites should know the motive but dislodge it from our human memory circuits. The common consumer has access to replacing batteries in just about everything that uses them. Why are phones supposed to be different? No one ever had problems with this method before. I will protest until I am six feet under that the industry is trying to grab service revenue. That is it in a nutshell. Technology has the know...(continues)

true a battery probblem could possibly cause those issues but that doesnt mean it does, thats more time that it creates to fix a phone cause that didnt fix the issue

ive personally have only had 2 device replacements for any of the phones ive ever had and has been had anything to do with a battery, and once due to a stolen device so like i mentioned not always something you can fix yourself

i never said i had all that monet or time cuause i dont i wish i did as well.

right and i understand that but phones are nowhere near perfect, so itss gonna happen, a lot of eople dont even have that option of a support center, im no where near one so i would have to wait for a replacement if i ever needed one

Then you should understand the descention and aggravation of those that wish to have easy access. Yes, not all issues add caused by batteries. But, many users are intuitive enough to try the battery replacement first before warranting a trip to the service center. Some will even call for advice first only to be told to bring it in because the battery can't be removed. The industry is prepping to extinquish any customer control for devices. Apple has created the ultimate ecosystem in which everything must be done through Apple from purchase to repair. The other manufacturers lust for the revenue that Apple has generated through this. Samsung has flourished enough to retain its own design and direction as of now. Yet, with tech blogs such as t...(continues)

Theres gonna be atleast a few devices I beleve that will not have access since someboady wants to make them that way whether it be the customer, carrier or whoever is making the phones.

Like you've mentioned the fact its a metal phone shouldnt matter because most people put a case on it. If anything Id like to see more phones kind of built like the iPhone is externally, but still havinng access to the battery if anyone would. Just one of the reasons that I like iPhones

Plastic is a bad choice because it makes the phone feel ridiculously cheap. Alternate materials would be anything besides plastic that make the phone not feel cheap. Does that response meet your requirements?

Any material can get damaged. Aluminum tarnishes with salt from hands. It pits and can attract corrosive elements. I can live with Kevlar as an alternative as long as key components are left accessible to the consumer.

Not an epic fail but a fail, yeah. This should be a Galaxy S4S. Same tired Super AMOLED pentile screen that makes white backgrounds look as if they were drenched in piss. Same tired 1080p resolution boring, no 4K, probably less ppi due to the fact the screen is slightly larger. The back is absolutely hideous. Yuck! WTF were they thinking? Same gimmicky features. Same cartoony looking UI TouchPiss. Waterproof? Yawn. Motorola did it years ago. *cough* Defy *cough*. Fingerprint scanner? Gimmicky and catching up to the iPhone. Whatever.

Yet, I really like this phone. I judge it by what it offers; not by what people on tech blogs were expecting. Because tech sites always expect more. This phone is killer in spite of what some people may think. I left HTC for Samsung due to HTC ignoring long time consumers' requests after the HTC Evo LTE offering. The ONE offered very little of what we were hoping to retain from such a once great company. Many of us left. Samsung, however, is listening.

that's pretty clever but I don't buy it. And I'll tell you why. I have a friend that works for HTC. He is the one that told me to call into HTC and offer up my complaint. He said I wasn't alone in my belief that what HTC did was against most wish lists. It has to due with some contract HTC signed with Apple. That's all he could tell me.

I never claimed Apple was dictating HTC's designs. I would never make that claim. I am stating that HTC has made some pact with Apple as claimed by many tech sites and my friend confirmed this. Whatever it is, has changed the MO of HTC's direction. Peter Chen claims to have taken polls on what customers want. I was an HTC customer for 7 years and never received one contact in any form from HTC for my wishes. My friend claims he has not heard of any poll ever taken by HTC. Merely observing Apple's MO. If HTC customers wanted Apple directives, we would've purchased an Apple product. HTC has always made great products. During its High Tech Computer corporation days, it was the front runner in touchscreen offerings for devices, offered some of ...(continues)

plastic is *cheap*. This phone will sell for big $....probably $249 with a subsidy or $699 or so without a subsidy..its not like its selling for a lower price than the metal phones.....plastic just allows for larger profits at Samsung. FYI

Aluminum has the same profit margin and some cases; even higher or manufacturers wouldn't be trying to push it. Currently, it appears plastic is the only element that is allowing access to batteries and SD slots. I applaud Samsung for retaining these important aspects and realizing that millions of people still wish for this accessibilty.

Plastic is a win over metal in several fields, just as metal is a win over plastic in several fields.

For somebody like me, who lives in a very, very, VERY cold and very very humid environment, I don't want a metal phone. I live somewhere where the humidity is often condensing - which would spell death for a phone with a metal body.

MOST metal phones don't have user replaceable options, like SD card, Battery - this is MOST, not all. People think of metal, and strength - just get a good case for your phone, you don't need a phone with a metal body. NFC / WIFI could also be possible issues with full-body metal phones.

But yeah. Some people like metal and some people like plastic. I personally like the HTC ONE's metal body. But its not for everybody. And if my friend like the plastic samsung then all the power to them. Samsung makes great products.